A) A prophet is seldom welcome in his own stomping grounds.

B) The world conspires to steal what is yours.

C) Both or Other. I have been heard, now it’s your turn.

The story of how Thomas Hunter first entered the Black Forest and forever changed our history began at a time when armies were gathered for a final battle in the valley of Migdon. Green is a story of love, betrayal, and sweeping reversals set within the apocalypse. It is the beginning: the truth behind a saga that has captured the imagination of more than a million readers with the Books of History Chronicles.

But even more, Green brings full meaning to the Circle Series as a whole, reading as both prequel to Black and sequel to White, completing a full circle. This is Book Zero, the Circle Reborn, both the beginning and the end. The preferred starting point for new readers . . . and the perfect climax for the countless fans who’ve experienced Black, Red, and White.

Visit the official Green website by CLICKING HERE.

Read Ted’s latest blog about Green by CLICKING HERE.

Join the conversation on Ted’s Facebook Fan Page by CLICKING HERE.

Until you’ve done it, you can only guess.

Those who’ve read the Circle Series thus far will likely say it’s not wise to start with Green. But then, they have never done that, so can’t really know.

It’s also a bit like the Star Wars Saga. Many debate whether it’s better to start with the ending of Star Wars movies, as they were released, or to start with Phantom Menace. Do you start at the beginning or at the end? For new viewers, most agree that it’s better to start with the end of Star Wars even though it spoils how the series ends.

Still, it’s up for debate. Just remember that if you’ve read Black, Red and White, you are debating what someone else will experience, not you. You are guessing that certain spoilers will create less of an impulse to discover or that they will ruin the experience of those discoveries.

This was at the forefront of my mind as I wrote. So, having finished the first draft, I gave the manuscript to a whole cast of readers who’d read the series and another whole cast who hadn’t read anything. We gave them all an extensive questionnaire and then poured over the responses.

The result was exactly as I had hoped. All who had read Black, Red and White thought Green made for a strong conclusion. Yet they weren’t sure it would make for a strong beginning. How could they know, being forever stamped by their own experience?

And all, to a person, who read Green without any prior knowledge of the series thought it made a perfect beginning and would immediately pick up Black. I quizzed them in great detail and made some small adjustments. Nowhere did they feel lost for lack of knowing, and instead were eager to learn more about the backstory alluded to throughout. All of those things you think of as spoilers, were story questions for the virgin reader. Indeed, many things you think are spoilers actually aren’t apparent UNLESS you’ve read the other books. Knowing the dot is on the wall, you see it every time you enter the room, even though others do not.

I gave all of this much thought as I crafted this most unusual novel. You really have to ask someone who reads the series starting with Green and ending with White how the experience was if you want to know.

Bottom line: Don’t assume that the KNOWLEDGE others acquire in Green will lessen rather than add to the EXPERIENCE of reading the other novels. Take a new reader’s word for it. That’s what I did, and that’s why I called Green Book Zero.

Now debate away. Leave a comment or join the conversation at Facebook.com/teddekker.

“Green takes readers on an epic adventure of two worlds connected by one man named Thomas Hunter. … Moving at breakneck speeds, Green not only captivates readers with its fictional civilization set 2,000 years in the future, but it also creatively exposes this present world’s broken relationship with its ever-loving Creator. … the resulting saga is one that draws readers deep into another realm, causing them to forget they’re actually reading a book.”—CBA Retailers + Resources, August 2009

Check out the official GREEN site at http://www.teddekker.com/green.

Dekker, Ted. Green. Thomas Nelson. (The Circle/Book 0: The Beginning & the End). Sept. 2009. c.400p. ISBN 978-1-59554-288-5. $25.99. CF